Didn't Ask For a Healer
by DianaChaseKirkland
Summary: Nico has suffered so much he is scared of pain, but will he allow himself to be happy? Just Nico's musings on his feelings for the Apollo head counselor. I don't own anything.


**A/N: Hello everybody! I come now with this Nico x Will thingie. When I finished BoO I just had to do this. Took me a while because I have some time without writing and I had several blocks along the way, but I finally did it ;) I'm not much for homo fics (I support homosexual people in real life, hard ._. ), but THIS pairing! I swear I've read almost every complete Will x Nico fic in this site. I ship, love, ADORE them. They are perfect! The most perfect pairing ever! :3 **

**This is my first time writing homo so go easy on me please :P Also, I definitely plan on working with this pairing so expect to see some more in the future (hopefully better than this one).**

**Give me your opinion on this, it's important for me to know **

**(Gonna try something new now. I'll thank you for reading **_**before **_**you read xD So thank you for reading ;) )**

* * *

><p>Nico knew only one thing: This couldn't be happening.<p>

He'd been through this, on those days when he began to understand that the admiration he felt towards Percy Jackson had developed into something more. When he accepted, though reluctantly, that the green eyed son of Poseidon didn't seem like a brother anymore, but rather made him nervous and uneasy, a strange kind of uneasiness. But even when he'd discovered that, he hadn't been the happiest person. Quite the contrary, he'd felt angry.

Angry because of the pain that awaited him, just in case he hadn't suffered enough already. He knew Percy's heart was completely and utterly Annabeth's, he himself had seen that when he'd first met the guy, back when Nico was just an impressionable twelve year old. Everything was about Annabeth. And yet, jealous as he may be, he couldn't bring himself to dislike her, not when she'd never been anything but kind to him.

After telling both Percy and Annabeth of his crush he felt an enormous weight being lifted off his shoulders, perhaps the heaviest he'd carried in the last few months, when he would have never dared do something similar. He wanted to think he did it now because of this new confidence he'd found, because of this level of understanding and matureness he felt he had. And in part, it was due to that, but it was also attending to his new feelings. Feelings, may it be clear, he never could have imagined having for _that _person.

His relationship with Will Solace, prior to Gaea's awakening was, for lack of a better word, non-existent. They had greeted some times in the past, exchanged a few words now and then, mainly concerning the weather or last night's sing-along, when Nico would stay for a night at Camp and then leave in the morning, but like, early morning, before the sun rose, when no one but the Apollo head counselor was up. He couldn't say he had a particular opinion about the guy, that he liked him or disliked him. He only thought of him as an easy-going healer, archer and musician, who dressed in beach shorts and flip-flops and was one of the few persons that kept being somehow friendly to him after the excitement of his 'undead army which saved the day' had died off.

It was until that day, spying on the Roman weaponry when Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen arrived, that Nico began to notice some aspects of him. The way his blond hair reflected the sun (the little sun there was), not in a flashy way like Jason's but more in soft golden undertones, the spark in his blue eyes when Nico almost beheaded him, the way his jaw set with determination at the prospect of their mission.

But not everything had been pleasant; later Nico wondered how he had gotten away with everything.

Will acting all bossy on him about 'not doing any Underworld-y stuff' and his stupid 'doctor's orders', he'd hated it. Mostly because at the time he didn't see that Will was actually trying to help him. He just felt bothered. Even after his trip with Reyna and Coach Hedge, who'd had to look over him every time he passed out from exhaustion, he wasn't used to people caring about him. It puzzled him. It felt strange. But he had shrugged it off, thinking it part of the Apollo kids' doctor complex.

But then Will touched Nico's hand.

It was just a damn _hand._

But he couldn't describe how incredible it was.

Whenever Percy hugged him (or attempted to hug him) or just made physical contact with him, Nico had a similar sensation: an electric current down his spine. Similar but not the same, not as intense as what he had felt that day at Half-Blood Hill, when the son of Apollo had merely intended to prove his point about delivering satyr babies, and had ended up sending Nico's already pained and confused emotions into an even bigger turmoil.

After Octavian's gruesome suicide, though he denied it to himself, Nico felt miserable when thinking Will might hate him for allowing it. He was a healer, his goal was to preserve life, at all costs, and Nico had just gone and let a foolish guy kill himself. He was sure the son of Apollo would _never _forgive him, like, ever. And despite all his efforts not to care, it crushed his heart.

And then the time in the infirmary. He'd been nervous to death when Will said Nico _owed _him three days of rest. He hadn't talked to Nico in days, and the boy thought the blond would be upset because of his cold heart and was going to tell him that he didn't want them to speak again or whatnot. And much to his amazement, he _was _upset, but because Nico hadn't gone to see him in the infirmary. Like, seriously, what in Hades? He technically committed murder and the guy was pissed over his absence. And over his 'state', which is why he demanded Nico spent three days in bed, but he found he had no problem to oblige.

During his confinement he had Will personally checking on him every few hours at least. There were plenty of other healers on duty, basically the entire Apollo cabin and some volunteers, and twice that many patients to see to, but somehow the counselor always found his way to Nico's bunk, and seemed to be the only one who did. The others approached him but merely to ask if he needed anything, or to greet him shortly before dashing off to treat another wound or fetch more bandages. But Will would walk over in full doctor mode. He revised him for signs of fever, checked on his few minor wounds, fed him the medicines (along with that disgusting gum) that would help him regain his strength and changed his bedding at least once a day to prevent infections. 'Basic protocol', said the guy who walked around the infirmary in flip-flops.

But after treating the patient, he would sit on the edge of the bed and amiably start some small chat with the friend, which eventually led to hour-length conversations, about the most diverse and silly topics, often cut short by him being needed somewhere else in the room, but with the promise of being back later. Nico found those were the moments of the day he enjoyed the most. When Will's dazzling blue eyes fixed on him, waiting for an answer to one or other question, or when he threw his head back laughing at some stupid thing one of them had said, the young boy's skin tingled in a way he'd never felt before, and his stomach fluttered with the flappy wings of his now all too familiar skeletal butterflies.

But he dreaded the feeling. Even when he had no more battles to fight, when the horrors he saw at night were just distant memories, when his hurtful crush had been discarded and his difficult past something he was set on getting over, he still feared the pain. He couldn't fall into an unrequited love, not again, not ever. He felt his heart, or what little remained of it was too damaged and just beginning the slow process of healing as to bear the pain of rejection. Therefore, he was intent on keeping his feelings for Will hidden, just like had done for so many years with his feelings for Percy.

"Hey Death Boy!" a familiar voice called, making Nico turn around in the spot he'd been occupying by the beach since midday. Now, the sun was setting in the distance and the darkness began to fall. A second later, Will Solace was standing next to him, sweaty and breathless, but smiling widely nonetheless. Despite himself, Nico smiled back.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

"Dinner is up, I tell you," he chuckled, "and I'm starving, but I came when I didn't see you at the pavilion." It had been a week since Nico left the infirmary, with 'medical instructions' to follow but in theory free to do as he pleased. However, Will had taken it to himself to see that he followed them and had become something like his personal doctor.

"I'm not really hungry."

Will scowled. "We've discussed this. Four meals a day at least, for another three weeks. I take it you've had only two so far in the day?"

Nico made a small smile. "Guilty." Will sighed dramatically.

"Seriously, Death Boy, you are going to get yourself killed one of these days." No matter how many times Nico complained against the nickname, there was no stopping Will from using it, so he'd rather gave up and instead grown used to it. No one called him that but the infuriating healer.

"I'm fine!" Nico snapped. "I'm sleeping six hours every night, I'm taking those awful things you gave me and I haven't tried anything 'underworld-y' in the last week. I don't see the point of all your cackle."

The blond laughed. "Six hours, huh? I said six hours _at least_, but I guess it's okay. And I'm glad you've followed my instructions but they alone won't do. A proper diet is an essential part of every recovering. And no, by diet I don't mean not eating, it's the other way round, you _have_ to eat, so you're coming with me, now."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I guess I don't have a choice?" he feigned annoyance, but deep down he was glad for the concern.

"No, you don't," said Will as he offered him his hand. Nico stared at it.

Would it be alright to just let go? To just give in and embrace his feelings? So much damage had been done in the past…but he was sure Will would fix it. He was a healer after all, wasn't he? Why couldn't he heal his heart the same way he'd helped heal his body? Maybe, to Will this was just an invitation to follow him to the Dinning Pavilion, but to Nico it was an invitation to follow him into a new life, to forget his sorrow in his new home, with his new friends. An invitation to begin again.

"Coming or not, di Angelo?" Will urged. "Though, as you very well put it, you don't have a choice." He smirked on the last part and it was all the encouragement Nico needed.

Reaching out, he grasped Will's hand in his own and let himself be pulled to his feet. For once, he walked along without a word.

He would let Will be his healer, even if he didn't ask for one.


End file.
